Could aquaculture be the solution to feed an ever growing global population?

The 13th of July was declared Fish Dependence Day in the EU, the
day that the EU used up all its domestic catch for consumption and
will now have to rely on seafood imports from the rest of the world
to meet consumption demands for the remainder of 2016.

It's a little tongue in cheek of course, but the message from
the New Economics Foundation (which calculates this figure every
year) is clear. We rely heavily on imports from developing
countries and it is our - and by our, we mean the seafood
industries, Governments and consumers across the EU- responsibility
to ensure those demands do not have a negative impact on those
fishing communities and their marine environments.

However, with the EU population projected to grow to 525 million
by 2050, the demand for seafood will grow with it. It is unlikely
that the fish stocks in EU waters will grow at the same rate so how
do we ensure that we are not putting more pressure on those
developing countries?

In their latest edition of 'The State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture' (July 2016), the FAO states that any future growth in
fish production and consumption will mainly come from aquaculture.
Aquaculture is an efficient protein production method (in
comparison to terrestrial livestock farming), and can produce
traceable, high quality, healthy seafood in large volumes. World
aquaculture production of fish* in 2014 totaled 73.8 million tonnes
with a value of US$160.2 billion. Aquaculture continues to prove
its ability to bridge the gap between supply and demand, and reduce
pressure on wild fisheries, and a significant milestone was reached
in 2014 when aquaculture's contribution to global fish supply for
human consumption overtook that of wild-caught fish for the first
time. (Note: * 'fish' refers to finfish, shellfish (crustaceans,
mollusc), etc.)

In the decade 2005 - 2014, fish culture production grew at
healthy 5.8% annually; this far outpaces world population growth,
which was 1.2% per annum between 2010 and 2014. Increased seafood
supplies have resulted in an average world per capita fish
consumption that was estimated at over 20kg in 2014 (in the 1960s
it was only 9.9kg). However, European nations, and the UK in
particular, have seen a lack of significant growth in aquaculture
over the past 35 years, especially when compared to regions such as
South East Asia.

The aquaculture production figures (in metric tonnes) derived
from the FAO's 'Global Aquaculture Production Statistics Database'
highlight the differences in aquaculture growth from 1980 to 2015,
and we have produced two graphs from those figures:

Graph 1: Aquaculture Production in Tonnes of Aquatic
Animals for Food - World, South and SE Asia, and
Europe

Graph 2: Aquaculture Production in Tonnes of Aquatic
Animals for Food - Europe, the 28 Countries of the European
Union, and UK

Graph 1 clearly demonstrates the huge disparity between Asian
and European aquaculture production levels, as well as the steep
growth trend seen in world aquaculture production over the past 35
years. This is driven, and therefore mirrored by the trend in Asian
aquaculture; the European production trend is almost 'flat' and
could be described as stagnating. Global growth in aquaculture has
been ~6% annually over the past 10 years.

Graph 2 clearly highlights the lower overall production figures
in Europe, the EU and UK compared with Asia; it also shows the
shallow, stagnant trend in aquaculture growth in the EU and the
UK.

If we want to ensure the world's population has access to
seafood in the future, as one of the healthiest proteins available,
and ensure Fish Dependence Day becomes a thing of the past, then
the UK and the EU needs to invest in aquaculture now.

To help support UK industry, Seafish work with culturists to
ensure that information, advice and training is freely available.
We provide market data, legal advice and technical information to
culturists operating in the UK.

We also provide market information and support organisations
and groups who work with the sector, and we have a small team of
aquaculture experts on hand to answer specific enquiries. We also
run the Aquaculture Common Issues Group.Download the Seafish Guide to Aquaculture here.